Rapidly expanding semi-conductor technology has enabled the storage of digital information in miniature semi-conductor chips. Such chips have been used to store computer programs of considerable size.
In the personal computer field, applications software has been stored in semi-conductor memory contained in a cartridge which is insertable in a receptacle of the computer housing.
Large scale integrated (LSI) techniques have made possible the storage of video information digitized from analog broadcast signals. The advent of very large scale integrated (VLSI) circuit techniques has produced semiconductor memories having extremely large storage capacities such as 256K.
In the video tape recorder (VTR) field, video information is stored on tape and reproduced on a television screen by means of the play-back circuitry in the VTR. Heretofore, video information for movies or the like has not been recorded in semi-conductor memory and made available in a plug-in cartridge for use with a VTR.
As far as I am aware, the only use of semi-conductor memory in storing video information as part of a plug-in cartridge has occurred in the computer game field. In the computer game field, video information is stored in semiconductor memories such as PROM. The information is accessed by the computer game control to provide a video game dispay in response to certain user commands. Software cartridges and video game cartridges in use today contain no device for monitoring frequency of actual use. Such a device would facilitate rental of the cartridges.
The use of rented cartridges provided with semiconductor memory for storing digital information pertaining to movies, computer games of software in general should also be subject to the owner's control so that pirating of the information stored in the memory can be prevented or exposed. Thus, a technique is required for preventing unauthorized use of the cartridge memory.